sixteen: honeymoons & home sweet home
seven months later
july of 2021
"Austin, come on! We're going to miss our flight!" Ally yelled from the main living area as Austin shoved the last of his clothes into his suitcase. They were about to take off for their honeymoon in Costa Rica, which they both wanted and needed desperately. Since the year had started, a lot had happened. Dez and Carrie started planning their wedding, Austin and Ally started working on their first EP as a singing duo, and Trish and Chuck, to everyone's complete surprise, had moved in together. Trish had started to explore different career options since she couldn't help them with their music for the time being and found herself gravitating toward musical theatre auditions as COVID restrictions started to lift. While nothing had worked out yet, Austin, Ally, and Dez encouraged her to keep trying. Surely there was something out there for her. And even if there wasn't, Dez had pointed out, she would still have managing Austin and Ally to fall back on. She faked a smile and nodded, trying not to reveal that that was the last thing she wanted to do.
"I'm coming!" Austin replied, though it was clear that he was not at all close to ready. He darted over to the bathroom, grabbing his toothbrush and toothpaste, deodorant, razor, and hair product, throwing it into the bag carelessly. Ally had insisted they wake up extra early so they would make it to the airport on time, but their flight didn't leave for another four hours. Naturally, she still set her alarm for five a.m., which Austin was less than pleased about. It was now 5:45, and Ally was getting impatient. She sat down on the couch, mumbling something about knowing he was going to make them late under her breath.
"No, you're obviously not," she shot back, leaning her head against the back of the couch. A touch of uneasiness lined her voice, and she looked around the room at the cardboard boxes, which were scattered all over the apartment. In the midst of working on their EP, they also were preparing to move into their new, custom-built house, which they'd been told would be ready within the next few months. Ally closed her eyes for a brief moment, thinking of all that they needed to do still, then shook it off. She was supposed to be thinking about her vacation right now, not work. Why wasn't she relaxed?
"Well, I'm sorry that you insisted we wake up at the butt crack of dawn to leave for the airport when our flight isn't until 10:45 am!" Ally heard some banging and slamming coming from the bedroom. Geez, no need to be so aggressive.
"And I'm sorry that I like being early for things!"
Austin scoffed. "No, you're not!"
"How do you know?" Ally asked, now frustrated, getting up and walking towards the bedroom. "Besides, why are you acting like this is my fault? You're the one that's making us late!"
"We're not late, Als, we're on time! There's a difference!" They were now staring into each other's eyes, and though they were both red-faced, they could feel the anger starting to disintegrate.
Ally looked toward the ground, raising herself up by her tippy toes. Austin exhaled slowly, running his fingers through his hair. "Man, what is wrong with us?"
Ally shook her head. "All couples fight. It's completely normal."
"You mean, what just happened here was normal?" Austin asked, "The neighbors are probably about ready to kill us."
Ally chuckled. "Probably. Who knows? Soon we won't have to deal with next-door neighbors that can hear everything we do." She sat down on the bed. "Maybe you're right—maybe I did set my alarm too early."
"No, I overreacted. I don't know what's gotten into me lately. Maybe it's the lack of sleep from writing late, or stress from the amount of meetings we've had lately, but...I definitely need a break."
Ally smiled. "I think it might be a combination of both, and I agree. A break is long overdue." She stood up promptly and headed towards the door of the bedroom. "Finish packing, I want to leave at 6:15."
Austin nodded, grabbing her from behind and planting a kiss on her cheek. "Love you," he teased as she wriggled out of his grasp. Ally just rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, love you too. Now stop stalling and start packing. We've got a flight to catch."
Austin smirked and saluted her. "Aye aye, captain."
"If you get moving, we can," she raised her eyebrows flirtatiously, "when we get to the resort."
"Aw, hell, yeah," Austin breathed, breaking out into a smile. Ally disappeared into the hallway. "I'll be ready in ten minutes," he called after her, moving twice as fast as he did before.
"I knew that would work," Ally muttered to herself, smiling.
7.5 hours later
1:30 p.m.
Ally woke up to the sound of the captain announcing that they were about to land. She took her head off of Austin's shoulder and smiled up at him. "Almost there," she yawned.
Austin nodded, squirming a little. "Yup, almost there."
"What's wrong with you?" she asked, narrowing her eyebrows.
"Nothing," Austin said, "I just have to pee really bad."
Ally rolled her eyes, picking up a magazine from the seat pouch. "This is just like what happened with Dez on the flight to Paris. Austin, how many times have I told you not to drink excessive amounts of liquids before getting on a plane?"
"Lots of times," Austin admitted, "But to be fair, I didn't drink an excessive amount of liquids before we got on the plane. I drank them during the flight."
Ally sighed, flipping through her magazine. "You're never gonna learn, are you?"
"Probably not."
Minutes later, their plane started its descent into San José. Overall, the flight was fairly smooth, despite some minor turbulence towards the middle, which made it easy for Ally to nap. Austin never could fall asleep on planes, so he'd kept himself busy with movies and games on the tablet attached to the seat in front of him. Once on the ground, they went to baggage claim, where Austin kept a lookout for their luggage while Ally searched for an Uber that could take them to their resort.
Once they had checked in at the front desk, Austin bounded up the stairs to their room, Ally not far behind. He eagerly slid the card into its slot and pushed the door open, throwing his things on the ground. Ally walked in behind him as he threw himself on the bed. Austin readjusted his position so he was lying on his side, his left hand supporting his head and wearing a smirk.
"Sup?"
Ally rolled her eyes, climbing beside him. "So that's why you ran upstairs all excited, huh?"
'Well, duh! Is it even our honeymoon if we don't"—
"Hold your horses, Moon," Ally interrupted, "It's the middle of the day! I want to go explore, go see the ocean, hang out at the pool...maybe get fancy dinner somewhere. Let's save that for tonight, 'kay?"
Austin groaned. "But you promised!"
"I might have, but I was never specific about when," Ally said, lifting her suitcase and setting it on the bed. "We have things to do, so let's go. Put on some nice clothes. We don't have all day."
"That's too bad," Austin mused, "Because I'm really turned on right now."
Ally glared at him, gesturing at her clothing. "You're turned on right now? Um...how?" An oversized, baggy, dark grey sweatshirt she'd purchased in New York draped over her petite figure and her grey sweatpants sat on her legs loosely. Her hair had been fashioned into a messy bun earlier that morning, and little wisps were sticking out every which way. Her glasses sat on the bridge of her nose, simply because she had been too lazy to put her contacts in.
Austin shrugged, sitting straight up on the bed. "Doesn't matter what you're wearing or how you smell. You're my wife, and I love you, and therefore, I'm super turned on."
Ally rolled her eyes once again, grinning from cheek to cheek at how much her husband was acting like a teenager, despite being twenty-five years old. "Just go get some different clothes on."
When they got back from their dinner that night at about 8:00 p.m., Austin casually slid the key card into the slot and pulled Ally inside. The second the door closed behind them, he reached down to capture Ally's lips, pushing her against the door.
Ally pulled away, though she didn't really want to. "Hold on there, tiger. Can you at least let me shower first? I still smell like an airport."
Austin frowned. "But why would you shower right now? We still have to...you know..."
She grinned and patted his shoulder. "I know you want to. And I do too...but I feel disgusting. So, I'm gonna go shower—I'll be ready in ten minutes."
"You smell fine to me," Austin argued, "But whatever." He sat back down on the bed, crossed his arms, and stuck his lower lip out. Ally giggled as she grabbed some comfy clothes and disappeared into the bathroom. Austin lay back down on the bed, waiting patiently for her to come back out.
twelve minutes later
After Ally returned from her shower, she found her husband lying across the bed, wearing nothing but his briefs. When they'd first gotten married it had startled her a bit, given that she'd seen him shirtless before, but not without pants on. Eventually, though, she had gotten used to it, and now she didn't even throw a glance his way.
"So, are you ready now?" he asked impatiently, sitting up and grinning at the sight of her.
"Yeah, um, I am. I just, I think we should talk about something first."
Austin frowned. "What is it? Has my...performance been bad lately?"
"No, no, it's not that. You've been doing pretty well, if I do say so myself." Austin raised his eyebrows at this comment and smirked.
"Well, thank you," he said. She ignored him as she continued talking.
"It's just...when we got married, we agreed that we didn't need to use protection because we both want kids, and we should just let it happen when it happens. But we've been married for a while now, and we've obviously been sexually active, and..."
"You haven't gotten pregnant yet and you're wondering if something's wrong," Austin finished her sentence. Ally nodded.
Austin bit his lip. "I don't know, Als. I want to say nothing is wrong, but what if I'm wrong?"
Ally took a seat next to him on the bed, leaning on his shoulder as she often did. "I just don't want to let you down."
"Ally, you'll never let me down. I promise. Just as long as you keep being your amazing, beautiful, adorkable self, you have nothing to worry about." A tear found its way out of Ally's eye and down her cheek. Austin reached over to wipe it.
"So, I take it you just want to head straight to bed?" he asked, a hint of disappointment evident in his voice. She nodded and they sat there for a while, each absorbed in their own thoughts. It might have been taking longer than they wanted, but Austin was positive it would happen for them eventually. He shut the lights off that night and Ally snuggled into him, drifting off to sleep almost immediately, most likely exhausted from waking up early that day. Austin let his brain wander for a bit more before he slowly let sleep overtake him.
one week later
Austin turned the handle to their apartment and walked inside sluggishly, followed closely by his wife. Ally had booked them a red-eye flight at one in the morning on their way back to Miami, insisting that this would allow them to make the most of their last day in Costa Rica. While Austin initially didn't care what time the flight was, he very much did now. He barely made it into the bedroom, plopping face down on the comforter.
"I'm too tired to function," he mumbled lazily, his eyes snapping shut. It was almost four a.m. now, and Ally was positive that they'd be spending the next day sleeping. She groaned as she lay down next to him, realizing that they couldn't afford to sleep all day. Their honeymoon was over now, and they needed to get back to work.
That was a problem they'd have to face in the morning, though. Ally flipped the lights off and trudged back to her side of the bed, flopping down on her pillow. Austin was already snoring softly, and she allowed a small smile as she thought of how cute he looked when he slept.
About ten hours later, Ally woke up with a million thoughts racing through her head about the songs they needed to finish on their EP and the cleaning she needed to do in the apartment, not to mention all the packing. She groaned and got out of bed to make herself a cup of hot cocoa, despite it being ninety degrees outside. When she checked her phone and saw a new email from the construction company, she nearly squealed with excitement. Ally read over the email and shook Austin awake.
"Austin, Austin, Austin! Look!" Ally exclaimed, and Austin rubbed his eyes sleepily.
"What is it, Als?" he murmured, squinting at the message on her phone. A few seconds later, he broke into a smile. "It's done?"
"It's almost done," she corrected, wrapping him in a hug, "The email from the construction company says that it'll be ready within, like, two months!"
"Our house is almost done!" he repeated, squeezing her tighter, "I can't believe it. We have a house."
"We have a home," she said, leaping off the bed. "Eeek! I'm so excited to move in! Ooh, let me go call Trish and Dez! They can help us move!" She skipped into the other room, pressing Trish's contact.
"I thought we weren't moving for a while longer?" Austin shouted behind her, but she didn't hear.
"Hello?" Trish answered sleepily, as if she just woke up. Knowing Trish, Ally figured that she had just woken up. That, or she was in the middle of one of her naps. "Trish, it's me! Guess what?"
"Don't tell me you're pregnant already," Trish groaned, "If you are, I owe Dez twenty bucks."
"No, I'm not..." Ally said slowly, "and why are you and Dez making bets on when I get pregnant?"
"That doesn't matter," Trish mused, "but what were you going to say?"
"I was going to say that our house is almost done, and we want you to help us move!" Ally exclaimed, "We just got an email from the construction company, saying it'd be move-in ready in about two months."
"Wow, that's so exciting Ally!" Trish shrieked, "I can't believe you guys are about to move into your first house. It seems like just yesterday that you were blabbing about what you wanted your 'dream house' to look like...anyway, I'm really happy for you."
"Thanks," Ally smiled, "Would you be willing to help us move, then? We'd be looking at like the middle of October."
"Mmmm, I don't know. I'll have to check my schedule...oh wait there's still a pandemic going on. I'm free all day, every day!" the two girls laughed.
"I'll text you the deets when it's ready," Ally said, "Bye, Trish."
"See ya."
Ally ended the call and grabbed an empty box, going back into her and Austin's room. "Let's get packing." She started pulling clothes out of drawers and placing them in the corresponding box as Austin watched intently. He soon did the same and they spent the rest of that afternoon packing, listening to music as they did so and occasionally humming along. Every once in a while they exchanged glances, both relieved to finally be leaving the cramped apartment.
three months later
mid-october
around 2:30 p.m.
Austin stood in the doorway, glancing around the empty apartment. Earlier that morning, they'd recruited Trish and Dez to help them move and had completed the job in just under four hours. Now, all of their stuff was packed and Austin was taking one last look at what had been his home for the past several years.
Ally came up behind him, placing a hand gently on his shoulder. "You okay?" she asked, rubbing his back. That must have been what triggered the tears, Austin thought as one snuck its way out. She went to the front of him and sighed, wiping the stray tear away. "You're gonna miss this place, aren't you?" Austin bit his lip. "It's okay to say yes, you know. This was our first apartment—it was your first apartment. It'll always have a special place in our hearts."
Austin laughed a little. "Yeah. I guess I am gonna miss it."
Ally leaned her head on his shoulder. "I'm gonna miss it, too." After a few moments of silence, they heard voices coming down the hall. Ally quickly straightened and wiped the tear that had fallen from her eye, now, and turned to face Trish and Dez.
"Hey, guys. The truck's about to leave. Are you ready to go?" Trish asked, noticing their solemn faces.
Austin nodded slowly. "Yeah, I think we are." He placed the keys on the kitchen counter and turned off the lights, then slowly closed the door. "Alright, gang. Let's go...move things!" Ally smiled up at him, grasping his hand, as they all walked out to the parking lot, where the truck was waiting for them.
"I know you're a little bummed about leaving the apartment...but, hey, think of all the new memories we're gonna make at our house! It'll be where we release new music, celebrate special milestones..."
"Where our kids are gonna take their first steps," Austin finished, grinning.
"Exactly. New house, new chapter." Trish held the door open for them and they walked over to their separate cars. After Ally confirmed that they had the right address, she went over to her car and fumbled with the keys, unlocking it, but not before giving Austin a peck on the cheek.
Fifteen minutes later, Austin arrived at the house, and the rest of the gang soon after. The lawn wasn't really a lawn yet, per se; it was still mostly dirt from all the construction, but little green blades were starting to show. The house was much bigger than his one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment, but he didn't mind at all. Light blue shingles covered the entirety of the six-bedroom, four-bathroom house, and the two-car garage had a polished white door with little glass windows near the top. Off to the right was a cozy front porch, where Ally could already picture putting comfortable rockers, and their front door was painted a deep brown.
"Wow," Ally breathed, walking closer to the driveway, taking in the sight of the house, "it's just like I imagined it...but better!"
"I wanna go inside, I wanna go inside!" Austin exclaimed, bouncing up and down, "Ally, can we go inside? Pleeeease?"
"Just wait, Austin," she giggled, "I want to go inside together." She turned to Trish. "Let us know when the truck gets here; we'll be right back." Austin grabbed her hand and dragged her up to the front door. He paused.
"You ready?"
"You know it." she smiled as he swung the door open. Ally gaped at the openness of what would eventually be their living room, breathing in the new house smell—a combination of freshly cut wood and newly installed carpet. She gazed at the hue of tan on the walls, similar to the sand on the beach at Shredder's, and imagined eventually putting family pictures on them. She grinned, gazing up at the freshly painted ghost-white ceilings and looked over at Austin, who seemed as if he was in his own world, too.
She listened to the rustling of the slight breeze against the door and the way it creaked against the pressure. Construction workers could be heard in the distance, yelling commands to one another. It was a new development after all, and Ally figured they'd be hearing that sound for a while. She put her hand on the dome-shaped toppers at the bottom of the staircase immediately to her left, noticing the smoothness of them. The floor beneath her feet was covered with gray wooden planks that stretched all the way across the main level. Straight ahead and to her left was the dining room and kitchen. Ally's mouth hung open as they sauntered past the staircase.
"It's my kitchen!" she squealed, fangirling over the dark gray and white patterned marble countertops and high-end appliances. Smack dab in the middle of the kitchen sat an island, which housed the stove. There was a fridge to the left of the island against the wall, and straight ahead was a set of double ovens. In between stood a huge walk-in pantry that would be able to fit a lot of pancake mix, Austin had noted. While Ally gaped at her dream kitchen, Austin explored the rest of the main level. Down the short hallway to the left stood a bathroom and a guest bedroom as well as a door to the garage. Adrenaline coursed through Ally's veins as she thought, this is ours now. We can call this place home. A wall stood in between the front door entrance and the hallway next to the kitchen. Ally noted that it would be a good place for a coat rack and shoe holders.
Austin eyed the door that led to the basement, which was on the backside of the staircase, suspiciously. "Hey, this must lead to the basement!"
"I'd hope so, given it goes downstairs," Ally replied. "Let's go check it out."
After descending the stairs, they walked into a big, open, multipurpose room with wooden floors. To their right was a small bar area and there was a sliding glass door leading to a concrete patio to their left. There was a room straight ahead and also one to the right of the bar. Ally peered into the room that was right in front of them.
"This will work great for my studio," she mused, marveling at the acoustics in the room, "all we have to do is get some sound equipment in here, and we're good to go." She came out of the room and frowned when Austin wasn't there.
"Babe, where'd you go?" She went past the mini bar, rounded the corner and grinned when she found him in the other room, which was carpeted, lying flat on his back. She snickered. "I see you're enjoying yourself."
"I finally get a man cave," he said, a permanent grin etched on his face. He pushed himself up to his feet. "Look, see there's where I can put my giant movie screen, so me and Dez can play video games. Ooh, ooh, and there, we can put a snack bar, maybe a popcorn machine..."
"Don't get too ahead of yourself, Austin. We have to move everything else in, first. I'm going to go check out the other guest bedroom and bathroom, which should be somewhere down here..." she exited the room and went past the staircase, where there were two more rooms. "Ah, here we go."
Austin came up behind her, nodding. "These are nice."
"Do you want to see the master?" Ally asked, already knowing his answer.
"Do I?" Austin turned around and bounded up the stairs to the kitchen, where he let out a yelp. Dez and Trish had made their way into the house and were looking around.
"Dez! You scared me!" he yelled as Ally came up behind him.
"So, what do you guys think?" she asked eagerly.
"It's beautiful," Trish mused, rubbing her hand over the countertops. "I mean, look at these countertops! And the backsplash is amazing!" she gestured to the pale white tiles that lined the perimeter of the kitchen beneath the light grey painted cupboards.
"I know, right?" Ally asked, breaking out into a smile. "Oh, we were about to go check out the master. You guys want to come with?"
Dez shrugged. "Sure." He stared to walk away but Trish grabbed the collar of his shirt.
"Where do you think you're going? We have to start unloading; the truck just got here."
"Awww," Dez complained, "Why don't Austin and Ally have to help us, though?"
"They will. Just let them look at their house in peace and follow me." Dez hung his head. Austin promised to show him the upper level later when they finished unpacking before sprinting up the stairs, Ally close behind.
The upper level featured two bedrooms and a bathroom on the left side of the hallway, and another bedroom plus the master bed and bath on the right. The hall had tan shag carpet and a satisfying blue color on the walls. Ally could already picture putting family pictures all around the hallway, and that made her giddy with excitement. She commented on the size of the closet straight ahead at the end of the hallway, and then turned the knob to the master bedroom.
Austin whistled as he looked around the room, which was about half the size of their old apartment. "Wow, I didn't know it'd be so big," he said.
"Were you paying attention at all when we were designing the house?" she asked him.
"Nope."
"That's what I thought." Ally went into the master bathroom and her jaw dropped to the floor. "Wow, this bathroom is amazing!"
Austin peered in behind her. "Yeah, it is."
"How are you not more excited about this? It has everything we need: two sinks, a walk-in shower, and a bathtub with jets."
"Wait...that bathtub has jets?" Austin exclaimed, running over to the bathtub to see for himself. "Game changer."
"Yep," she mused, feeling the countertops, "These countertops are really nice, too. I know you probably don't care about this stuff, but..." she stopped mid-sentence, her breath hitching, and leaned a little more on the counter, as if in pain.
"You okay?" Austin asked, furrowing his brow.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I've just been having some cramps today—they're a little stronger than usual. Nothing to worry about."
"Austin, Ally! Are you coming, or what?" came Trish's voice from downstairs.
"Aaand that's our cue. C'mon, we've got a truck to unload." Ally grabbed his wrist, dragging him back downstairs.
"Are you sure you're okay? How long have they been happening?"
"Since this morning after we moved everything out of the apartment," Ally replied. "But you don't need to worry about me, Austin. I'm fine. I promise." They reached the front door and found the moving truck backed up in the driveway, waiting for them.
"Hey, Dez, can you toss me that box labeled 'kitchen'?" Austin asked his friend as they started to unload.
"Yeah, sure, hang on a second," Dez replied, grabbing the box and physically tossing it to Austin, who scrambled to catch it before it fell to the ground. Austin winced as he heard something inside of it shatter.
"I didn't mean literally!" he argued, picking it back up. Dez just shrugged as the girls came back outside from bringing in the first load.
"How's it going out here?" Ally asked, noticing that Austin's cheeks had now turned bright pink.
"F-fine," he stammered, walk-running into the house through the garage. Ally furrowed her brow and turned back to Trish, who was taking another box out.
"This one says 'living room,'" Trish said, handing it to her. Ally nodded, heading towards the garage door and nearly running into Austin as he came back out. Austin shrieked in surprise.
"AAH! Sorry, Als."
"Why are you so jumpy all of a sudden?" Ally asked casually.
"N-no reason," he replied, trying to walk away and failing when he felt a hand grip the back of his shirt.
"Okay, spill it," she said, putting the box down, "What did you break?"
"It wasn't me!" Austin protested, "It was Dez! I told him to hand me the box and he threw it to me. I heard something shatter and when I went inside...I found out that two of your good plates were broken..."
Ally furrowed her eyebrows. "You mean my one-of-a-kind, irreplaceable china that we got from my grandparents as a wedding present?" Austin nodded slowly. Ally groaned.
"Dez, get over here!" he spun around, eyes wide, and gulped.
"Okay," he squeaked, walking slowly over to where Austin and Ally stood.
"Dez..." Ally started, realizing she sounded like a mom about to discipline her child, "Why did you throw the box to Austin when it was clearly labeled 'fragile'?"
"Oh, huh. Would ya look at that? See, I didn't even see that"—
"Just don't let it happen again, okay?" Ally interrupted. Dez nodded quickly before turning and going back towards the truck. She turned to Trish, "Don't give him any more of the fragile boxes...heck, I'm not even sure if I trust him with the non-fragile ones."
"Don't worry, I'll find something for him," Trish replied. Ally turned back to Austin, who was frowning.
"What?"
"Nothing, I'm just surprised you let him off easy like that. You don't do that with me."
Ally chuckled. "Yeah, but that's different. Dez is my friend, you're my husband. I'm allowed to discipline you."
Austin nodded. "Surprisingly, that makes sense."
three and a half hours later
Ally unloaded the last box and galloped into the house, hooting triumphantly as she set it off to the side. Trish ordered some pizza and they sat around the makeshift dinner table—a blue card table with four folding chairs; they hadn't ordered their 'real' dining table yet— and talked for another hour. Trish and Dez left the new house just as the sun was starting to set, leaving the couple alone for the first time since that morning.
"So, that went fairly smoothly, huh?" Austin asked, picking up a box Trish had lazily set near the door to the garage and relocating it to the living room.
"Yeah, I mean, besides the two plates that Dez broke—and the pillows that he dropped, getting them all dirty— everything made it inside okay," she mused, breaking down the pizza box. "It definitely could have gone worse." Ally leaned up against the counter, wincing a little and looking back at him to make sure he didn't notice.
"Yeah," Austin agreed, going over to the refrigerator, which was predictably empty. "We need groceries, by the way."
"We just ate— how could you possibly be hungry right now?" Ally asked as the pain subsided, "And yeah, we threw all of our food from the apartment out, remember? I was going to go shopping tomorrow morning." She grabbed another box from the floor and set it on the card table. "Okay, let's see here...this is mostly silverware, so that goes in this drawer..." She brought it over to one of the drawers. Austin snickered.
"So, we have utensils, but nothing to eat?"
"Yes, Austin," she huffed, "I already told you, I'm going shopping tomorrow. Now, I think I'm going to go upstairs and get ready for bed; it's been a long day." Austin frowned as he watched her walk towards the stairs, almost hobbling.
"I'm right behind you." He followed her up the stairs and watched as she quickly hurried into the bathroom. He sat down on the bed, which didn't have sheets on it yet, and waited until she came back out.
"What...are you doing?" she asked slowly.
"Just wanted to make sure you were okay," Austin stated, getting up again, "Where did the box with the bed sheets go?"
"I think they ended up in one of the guest rooms," she responded, "And I already told you, I'm okay. I just need some ibuprofen, which we seem to be out of." Austin nodded.
"Should I go get some? Those cramps look painful."
"I'll be okay for tonight. I'll just add it to the grocery list," Ally said, but she herself seemed unconvinced.
Austin backed away slowly, heading in the direction of the guest room. He stopped in his tracks when he heard a high-pitched scream and a thump. He turned back to see Ally curled up on the floor, leaning against the dresser, obviously in serious pain. Something was wrong.
"Ally?" he asked, running back to her. "A-are you okay?" You idiot, he thought, she's clearly not okay.
"S-something's wrong," was all she managed to get out as she clutched her abdomen. Austin's mind raced and his heart thumped hard against his chest. Am I about to lose Ally?
Without hesitation, he ran into the bathroom, hastily grabbing a towel from the cabinet under the sink. When he got back seconds later, he gulped. There was blood staining the new carpet and it seemed like Ally's pain had gotten worse. He threw the towel across his right shoulder and bent down to pick her up. As he carried her down the stairs, the promises that he'd made to Ally just months earlier ran through his mind. For better or for worse, in sickness and in health, till death do us part. Austin whispered encouraging words to her as he threw the towel down in the front seat and set her on top. They locked eyes for a second, and he caressed her cheeks with his thumbs.
"It'll be okay," he said, although he wasn't too sure of that himself, "I'm gonna take you to the hospital." Austin planted a delicate kiss on her forehead and quickly inserted the keys, screeching down the driveway.
Austin gripped the steering wheel tightly as he drove, his knuckles turning white. He couldn't think straight. Something was wrong with Ally, and he couldn't do anything about it. He looked over at his wife, who was lying back in the seat with her eyes closed, her breathing shallow. He gulped and stepped on the gas, ramping the speed up to 60 mph. He desperately hoped they would make it in time.
Ten minutes later, they pulled up to the emergency room. The parking lot was empty, being that it was almost 9:00 at night, and Austin was grateful that he was able to snag a front row parking spot. He hastily opened his door and ran around to Ally's, throwing hers open and taking her seat belt off. Austin immediately picked her up and carried her to the front entrance, using his foot to close the passenger door. He didn't bother to lock the car.
"Help! Someone, help, please!" Austin yelled. A few curious heads turned toward Austin, who was basically screaming at this point. "It's my wife...she's cramping really bad and...there's a lot of blood..."
The nurse at the front desk came their direction and looked at Ally for a few seconds before calling another nurse over, telling her to bring a gurney.
Austin carefully set Ally down and the nurse whisked her away almost immediately. He tried to run after her but the other nurse stopped him.
"Sir, you're going to have to wait until we figure out what's wrong."
"Bu-but it's my wife! She's in pain, a-and there's something wrong! Let me go back, please!" Austin argued, but the nurse cut him off.
"I'm sorry, sir, but COVID policies can't let you go back until we've figured out the problem," the nurse explained. "Oh, and we're going to need you to put a mask on—"
"No, you don't understand! Sh-she's my soulmate! I promised I'd be there—in sickness and in health— and you're gonna tell me I can't go back there?" By now, Austin was a mess, tears streaming down his face and anger coursing through his veins as he paced the length of the lobby. Why can't they just let me go back there? The nurse bit her lip. Austin looked down at her nametag, which read, Claudia.
"I'm so sorry, sir. If I could, I would let you, but it's hospital policy." She handed him a paper mask, which he took from her and put on.
Tears spilled from Austin's eyes, soaking the mask completely. Though he had a mask on, the hopelessness that covered his face was still visible, and it was heart-shattering. He slowly walked toward the waiting room area, too anxious to sit down. He paced the floor for five minutes, wondering if he should call Ally's parents.
ten minutes later
Just when Austin had calmed down enough to sit down in one of the uncomfortable plastic maroon chairs, a doctor approached the waiting room. "Is Ally Moon's spouse here?" Austin shot up from his chair, stepping slowly towards him.
"Y-yeah, that's me," Austin stammered, "Is she okay?"
"Mrs. Moon is stable," the doctor replied. Austin frowned.
"W-what does that mean?"
"That's why I came to get you," the doctor said, "If you'd follow me back to her room, please."
Austin nodded and followed him to the room, where Ally was lying on the bed, eyes barely open. They were puffy; she'd obviously been crying. He went over to her and bent down to kiss her forehead. "Hey," he whispered, looking around at all the equipment in the room. There was a bag with red liquid in it sitting on a long, silver pole that he realized was hooked up to Ally's arm. She didn't respond, but stared straight ahead at the doctor, who cleared his throat.
"After doing some preliminary tests and a few ultrasounds, we found that unfortunately, the baby had no heartbeat."
Austin's eyes widened, and he gulped. "What do you mean, baby? But...she wasn't pregnant."
"From what it shows here, she was about twelve weeks along."
"B-but"— he stammered, looking helplessly at Ally. "Did you know?" he whispered. Ally just shook her head as tears spilled down her face.
"How-how did this happen?" he asked, tearing up.
"It's not uncommon for women to miscarry early in the pregnancy without even knowing. Sometimes the symptoms can be associated with stress, or something else," the doctor explained, "What Ally experienced is completely normal."
Austin nodded, though he wasn't sure that he completely understood. He grabbed Ally's hand and stroked the back of it with his thumb.
"I'll leave you two alone for a little bit," the doctor said, turning the knob on the door. Austin thanked him and grabbed a chair from the other side of the room, dragging it over to Ally's bedside.
"How are you feeling?" he asked quietly, already knowing the answer.
"Awful," she responded, "both physically and emotionally." She paused, wiping a few tears from her face. "God, I can't believe I could be so stupid."
"What are you talking about?" he whispered, "It was nobody's fault."
"Yeah, but I had the symptoms," she choked, "I had the nausea, the exhaustion, even a little bit of weight gain. I chalked it all up to stress from writing the EP and moving, but..." she was cut off by muffled sobs as Austin stroked her hair.
"Als," he replied, "You couldn't have known. It wasn't your fault. Please don't blame yourself." He then got up and sat on the edge of Ally's bed, wrapping his arm around her. "Everything will be okay," he added, though he wasn't completely convinced that was true.
A few hours later, when the bleeding had finally subsided to a manageable amount, Ally was cleared to go home. The doctor told her that the bleeding would probably cease within a few days. They gave her ibuprofen for the pain and told her to take it easy, which Austin promised he would make sure of. He pushed her out to the car in the hospital wheelchair, hastily removing the stained bath towel from the front and throwing it into the backseat before helping her into the front. He returned the wheelchair to the front lobby of the hospital and walked back out to the car to join her.
Austin turned the ignition and they sat for a few moments, not saying anything. They drove home in silence, both hoping to avoid the subject, but rather to curl up into bed and fall asleep and just avoid the world altogether. Austin pulled into the garage and helped her out, and they went through the motions getting ready for bed. Neither said a word, because there wasn't much to say.
After Ally had showered and changed into her pajamas, she came out to the bed fully made and a plethora of pillows sitting neatly up against the headboard. Austin was already snoring lightly, and all the lights had been turned off except for the lamp on the bedside table. Realizing it was almost 1:00 a.m, she yawned and flipped it off, getting into bed. She didn't snuggle up next to Austin like she usually did, though; she lay on her side, tears seeping out of her eyes, which were puffy from exhaustion and emotion, and landing on the bed sheets. It wasn't until about an hour later that Ally finally fell asleep.
First off..,.,.,.,I'm so sorry lol. I came up with the idea and sat with it for a while, wondering if it was really necessary. Eventually I decided to put it in...so please don't hurt me :') I spent way too much time researching about it so it could be as accurate as possible, and before you come at me, I promise that there's a purpose for this ending. It will become evident in the next few chapters. I love you and appreciate you all!- EJ